Amazon confirmed the amount but said it followed all appropriate tax rules.

Author:
Stephen Adams

Published:
3:42 PM PST February 14, 2019

Updated:
3:42 PM PST February 14, 2019

Amazon will owe the Internal Revenue Service exactly zero dollars in federal taxes this year, the company has confirmed.

The revelation comes despite the fact the e-commerce giant nearly doubled its profits from $5.6 billion in 2017 to $11.2 billion in 2018, according to Fortune. And, Fox Business reports this will be the second year in a row Amazon won't owe the IRS a check.

A spokesperson for the company explained Amazon accomplished this by re-investing its earnings and by seizing relevant tax credit opportunities.

Amazon said it pays all taxes that are required of it from both the federal government and the governments of all countries in which it operates.

That meant paying $2.6 billion in corporate tax and reporting $3.4 billion in tax expenses in the last three years.

"Corporate tax is based on profits, not revenues, and our profits remain modest given retail is a highly competitive, low-margin business and our continued heavy investment," the Amazon spokesperson told 10News in an email.

The company says it has invested more than $160 billion in the U.S. since 2011. That money has been used to build a network of more than 125 fulfillment and sorting centers, air hubs, delivery stations, and cloud-computing infrastructure, along with wind and solar farms.

"We invest heavily in research and development at our Seattle headquarters and 18 tech hubs across the country," Amazon said. "We are creating tens of thousands of quality jobs each year with industry-leading pay for people of all skill levels, bringing our total workforce in the U.S. to more than 250,000."

Amazon announced Thursday that it was dropping plans for a new headquarters in New York City.